A Needed Revisitation Of Steve Martin In "THE JERK"
Posted by tjparsons on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:00am
Category: Classic Cult Comedy
TITLE: The Jerk
DATE: 1979
GENRE: Classic Cult Comedy
RUNNING TIME: 1hr 34 min
RATING: R
FORMAT: Dvd
SCRIPT: Steve Martin and Carl Gottleib
DIRECTOR: Carl Reiner
STARRING: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, Mabel King,
"No matter what the times are, a strong comedy is always welcome."- Steve Martin
This was in some production notes on the DVD extras in 26th Anniversary Edition of Steve Martin and Carl Gottlieb's "The Jerk" directed by Carl Reiner. For some reason I have always had a soft spot for Steve Martin in many of his older films such as "The Man with Two Brains", "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and his appearances on "Saturday Night Live" . I believe the quote that started this review has special wisdom that I couldn't have said better myself. His special type of humor, offbeat humor, really really offbeat humor had me laughing more in the first ten minutes of this movie than I have in a total of 3 or 4 months.
The beginning of the film he reveals that he was "born a poor black child". In a matter moments later upon identifying that he feels different that of his beloved poor share cropper family (possibly tipped off by his unusual irregular sense of rhythm) and runs sobbing to his room, his loving mother confides in him that he was adopted and raised as one their own. Steve Martin looks his mother (played by Mabel King) and with tears streaming from his eyes and chokes forward "You mean... I'm gonna stay this color?" He then embarks on a rags to riches story spawning from a need to find "his special purpose."
With his earnest performance, Steve Martin more than solidifies well placed punch lines at the end of some of the best physical and situational gags that I can say that I can't remember laughing out loud so much at a movie in recent memory. It it very refreshing to revisit this classic comedy gem, in a time where many modern comedies try too hard to be clever (and usually seems a little forced) thus not being very funny; or on the opposite side of the spectrum, many modern comedies are over the top with a cynical mean spirited comedy ethic. Steve Martin's "The Jerk" is a welcomed oasis in recent times when we work too hard, take our lives way too seriously, and are begging for a comedic savior to give us that honest therapeutic guttural laugh. I highly recommend adding this film to your collection to pull out once in a while when you need to melt some troubles away, like during a needed vacation.
This is TJPARSONS, and I hope you enjoy the film.
Crazed Fruit
Posted by starshiped on Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:00am
Category: Drama
TITLE: Crazed Fruit
GENRE: Drama
DATE: 1956
RUNNING TIME: 86 min
RATING: Not Rated
FORMAT: DVD, VHS
SCRIPT: Shintarô Ishihara
DIRECTOR: Ko Nakahira
STARRING: Ayuko Fujitshiro, Taizo Fukami, Mie Kitahara
One of the earliest and best of Nikkatsu Studios' "Sea Tribe" films which form a sort of cultural corollary to the American teen angst films coming out at that same time. Still, it's a little bit shocking to consider a film made just eleven years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be about essentially spoiled upper middle class teens who discuss and dismiss Marx in favor of trendy Western consumption, joke about adopting boredom as a manifesto. They're punks who look like Mouseketeers.
Two brothers, Haruji and the older, more experienced Natshisa, are competing for the same girl. The girl Iri joins innocent Haruji and they sunbathe together. The date is chaste, silent, sexually charged. When they're together onscreen, Nakahira uses every filmic license at hand to push up the emotional ante and create an over-the-top dark suburban romanticism the super real equal of _American Beauty_.
Natshisa has been with an addle-brained young prostitute, thinks he knows a bad girl when he's seen one. He discovers that Iri is several years older than Haruji and that she's married to an American businessman, presses his advantage to sleep with her. Everything comes to a stylish very bad end but the self-seriousness of the teenage nihilism hangs a bit ripe in the air immediately after the last title card.
The music by Masaru Sato relies on Hawaiian guitarist Toru Takemitsu's phsychedelic chromatic slides to support Nakahira's visions, especially in theatrical close-ups against rear projections while water skiing or sunbathing. The moonbathing scenes are delirious.
Mie Kitahara gives a subtle and knowing performance as the "older" Eri. She was one of the finest young actresses then working in Japan and this is one of her best films.